India death toll rises to 32 in Assam violence

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The death toll in the ethnic violence in India's Assam state has risen to 32, authorities say.

More than 170,000 people have fled their homes after fighting between indigenous tribespeople and Muslim settlers in Kokrajhar and Chirang.

Security forces have been given shoot on sight orders and a curfew has been imposed in the troubled areas.

There have been tensions between indigenous groups and Muslim Bengali migrants in Assam for many years.

The army has been deployed to bring the situation under control, authorities said.

Railway links between Assam and the rest of the country have been disrupted after local people threw stones at an express train travelling through the area, and damaged four coaches, reports say.

Police say that the clashes began when unidentified men killed four youths on Friday night in Kokrajhar district, an area dominated by the Bodo tribe.

They say that armed Bodos attacked Muslims in retaliation, suspecting they were behind the killings.

Soon afterwards unidentified groups set houses, schools, and vehicles ablaze, police said, firing indiscriminately from automatic weapons in populated areas.